Glenties had lowest birth rate while Tallaght experienced highest in 2022

Glenties in Co Donegal had the lowest birth rate in 2022, while Tallaght in Dublin experienced the highest birth rate during the same period, new figures show.

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) released Births and Deaths at Local Electoral Areas (LEA) 2022, which shows that nationally, the birth rate stood at 10.2 per 1,000 of population in 2022.

Tallaght in south Dublin saw a rate of 13.7 per 1,000 people, Enniscorthy in Co Wexford at a rate of 13.3, and Fingal at a rate of 13.2, were the LEAs with the highest birth rates.

Glenties at a rate of 7.4, Killiney-Shankill in Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown saw 7.6, and Galway city at 7.6, were the LEAs with the lowest birth rates in 2022.

Of the 54,483 births which occurred in 2022, north inner city in Dublin was the LEA with the highest number of births at 701.

The CSO has been collating and analysing significant life events for decades.

The CSO said that it observed for the first time an increase in the number of LEAs which are recording a greater number of deaths than births.

Looking at the 166 LEAs during the period from 2019 to 2021, three LEAs on average witnessed more deaths than births.

However, in 2022, the number of LEAs which recorded more deaths than births had risen to 15.

Taking the LEA of Belmullet, Co Mayo, as an example, it was one of the LEAs which recorded the lowest number of births in 2022 and had the highest crude death rate of 11.5 per 1,000 people.

As a result of recording some of the lowest birth rates in the country and the highest crude death rate in 2022, it topped the list of the 15 LEAs which had the highest negative natural increase rate in 2022, at -2.9.

Negative natural increases indicates that more deaths than births have been recorded.

Looking at the overall figures, there were 35,804 deaths in Ireland in 2022, with the LEAs of Artane-Whitehall, Dublin City (553), Ballymun-Finglas (517), and Clontarf (509) recording the highest number of deaths.

In contrast, Granard, Co Longford (85), Milford, Co Donegal (85), and Leixlip, Co Kildare, (86) recorded some of the lowest numbers of deaths.

The general fertility rate is defined as the number of births by women aged 15-49, relative to the population of women aged 15-49.

This differs from the birth rate, which looks at the entire population in an area, while the fertility rate only focuses on women.

Nationally, the fertility rate stood at 42.3 births per 1,000 women aged 15-49 in 2022.

Enniscorthy, Co Wexford (57.0), Newcastle West, Co Limerick (53.5), Loughrea, Co Galway, Tramore-Waterford City West, Co Waterford, and Moate, Co Westmeath (all 52.9) were the LEAs with the highest general fertility rate in 2022.Urban LEAs such as Galway city (27.8), south-east inner city in Dublin (29.7), and north inner city in Dublin (31.6) had the lowest general fertility rate per 1,000 women.

The figures show that there were 35,804 deaths across Ireland in 2022 with Artane-Whitehall, Dublin City, recording the highest proportion of deaths at 1.5% or 553 deaths.

Belmullet, Co Mayo, was the LEA with the highest crude death rate per 1,000 at 11.5 deaths per 1,000 of population, while Blanchardstown-Mulhuddart, Fingal, recorded the lowest at 2.8.

In terms of cause of death, Ballinamore, Co Leitrim, had the highest crude death rate due to diseases of the circulatory system, which encompass heart attacks and strokes, at 361.7 per 100,000, while Blanchardstown-Mulhuddart, Fingal, had the lowest at 66.8 per 100,000 for this cause of death.

Looking at births and deaths together allows the calculation of the natural increase, which is the number of births minus the number of deaths.

The natural increase does not take account of inward or outward migration. Nationally, the natural increase for 2022 stood at 18,679 and the rate of natural increase stood at 3.5. However, this varied significantly across LEAs.

The LEAs with the highest natural increase rates in 2022 were Blanchardstown-Mulhuddart, Fingal (9.7), Ongar, Fingal (9.7), and Tallaght South, South Dublin (9.6).

In LEAs such as Ennistimon, Co Clare (0.2), and Lismore, Co Waterford (0.0), the rate of natural increase was close to neutral.

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Looking at cause of death across LEAs, the analysis indicates different patterns for the deaths that were recorded.

For instance, while the crude death rate due to neoplasms (tumours and cancer) stood at 194.3 per 100,000 of population nationally in 2022, Tralee, Co Kerry, had the highest death rate for this cause at 334.5 per 100,000.

For external causes of death, which can include deaths due to suicide, accidents, and other external factors, nationally this rate stood at 31.3 per 100,000 in 2022.

However, at an LEA level, these crude rates were highest in Castleisland, Co Kerry (70.8), Ballymote-Tobercurry, Co Sligo (69.5), and Skibbereen-West Cork, Cork County (63.0).”

Sean O’Connor, statistician in the Life Events and Demography Division, said: “Today’s release, which is part of the CSO Frontier Series provides information and evidence on life events such as births and deaths at Local Electoral Area (LEA).

“The population used to calculate rates and present average age at LEA level for 2022 was taken from the Irish Population Estimates from Administrative Data Sources (IPEADS).”